Wednesday, 25 June 2008

I've Nothing Against..

When I hear someone start a sentence with "I'm not homophobic..." or "I've nothing against gays.." I brace myself because I know that a "but" will follow and something offensively homophobic will come out their mouth.

Just see the reaction to the television advert by Heinz (Heinz pulls ad showing men kissing, The Guardian) which brought out the usual crowd of people using religion and those saying "well what do I say to the children" (hint: you don't have to go into any detail about bum love) to justify their bigotry.

Then there were the complaints about the man being referred to as "mum". No they weren't trying to force gender bending or transgenderism down your throats. Don't you get the conceit and the intended "joke" behind it?

Despite the prophesies of doom from a section of religious people about increasing gay rights the world's still turning, sun still shines and we haven't been flooded out. Good grief they're even getting married. I think if someone upstairs was a little peeved they might have said something by now. (Oh, that's right 9 11 was because of the gays, feminists and abortionists (snopes.com: Falwell and Robertson Blame Liberal America).

I suspect all the controversy (and resultant free publicity) was intended. The press bumf before the campaign were all about new directions and edgy campaigns. Like many old brands who change agencies (see Cadbury last year) they swallow a load of buzzwords about getting modern and creative. Sometimes it works, most of the time it looks tragic or offensive. Like an parent trying to look cool and hip in front of their kids.

3 comments:

We were listening to a radio debate about it in work the other day. I burst into a fit of giggles when one caller said (without a trace of irony), "I've nothing against gay people, but I don't want them ramming it down my throat."

I like to call my straight friends who are clueless about me heterophobic whenever they start bitching about gay people, always annoys the hell out of 'em, which is good when they had just annoyed me. ;)